Blame Gravity

Chapter 32

"Right. So we were in your room, and you were doing your homework after putting Maya to bed. You got really stressed, and I wasn't sure what to do. Suddenly, you went downstairs, so I followed you. You randomly picked up a wine bottle and started chugging it. I tried to stop you since I have no idea how to deal with drunk people. But you didn't listen to me, and you handed the bottle over to me after drinking half of it. I was kind of concerned, but you bullied me into drinking the rest. Honestly, it tasted really good. So we drank more, and we got absolutely wasted. It's a fun way to spend your Friday night," he winks.

"And what's with all this stuff?" I ask, gesturing at everything.

He raises his eyebrows and looks around. "Oh, right! Okay, so, let's start at the beginning." He walks over to the kitchen table and gestures me to follow him. "At this sacred place, you announced you were 'the bat man', and I threw a blanket, a Cape, at you so that you could live out your dream." He wipes away a fake tear. "What fond memories."

I can feel my face get red. Am I really that much of an idiot when I'm drunk?

He claps his hands and walks over to the table. "Next, ladies and gentlemen, we see the Monument of Midnight Cravings." He gestures to the cake batter. "You said that you wanted cake, and I asked you if you could bake. You laughed in a way that I had never heard before and said no. You know, the laugh was kind of like the mix of a horse and a dolphin making love to a whale. I helped you make the cake batter, but I was too drunk to measure things right, and so became this Mess." He smiles and looks at me. "You put mayonnaise and mustard in it and ate ten spoons before you decided it didn't suit your tastes."

He doesn't let me say anything but moves on to the next object immediately. "Here, you put a cereal box on your head and announced that you were Spongebob. I found the personality change a bit strange, since just a moment ago you were 'the batman', but I didn't notice it then. Suddenly, you started crying because you couldn't find your pineapple house. Hence, our next item," He walks over to the mushed pineapple and points to it. "The housebuilding went a little wrong." He smiles like an idiot.

Again, he doesn't let me say anything and moves on, while I grow more and more embarrassed with the second. I let my guard down. In front of James. I was vulnerable.

"And then, you found Goldfish crackers, and threw them on the carpet, yelling 'Swim, my babies, swim! You're free now!'. It could have been in a badly written children's animation, honestly, so kudos for that." He walks to the closet, and I have a terrible feeling.

"And then, you got into the closet and said you had found Narnia. I went in with you because obviously, I wanted to go with you. You kept yelling 'Prince Caspian is hot and I don't care what Layla says', and you kissed me out of the blue. Then, you laughed in that horse-dolphin-whale way and started crying about how you couldn't find the way out of Narnia. I tried to comfort you, but I was panicking as well. You suddenly just fell asleep against the closet door and so it opened. I woke you up, because, hey, we got out of Narnia. And then," he pauses for a moment and the smile disappears from his face. 

"You said you wanted me to draw you." He picks up the drawings, the smile reappearing. "And I did. Pretty great, right? The stick figures that you drew in the background to help me really added to the effect." He takes a better look at the paper. "You know, when I was drawing it, it looked amazing. I was even surprised at how good I was. I guess it was just the alcohol." He puts the drawings down. 

"Then you wanted to play Truth or Dare, so we did. I confessed some pretty weird shit, so I'm glad you don't remember that." He clears his throat. "I don't remember the rest, but I think the remaining item explains everything." He gestures to the floor.

"Yes, I understand." I study him. I suddenly notice something I haven't before. He has something drawn on the inside of his arm. "What is that?" I ask, pointing at it.

He frowns. "What?" He looks at his arm and stops dead. "What the f-"

I come closer to him and study his arm. It's a tattoo, I think. It says "And I can see us twisted in bedsheets, august sipped away like a bottle of wine, 'cause you were never mine", in pretty calligraphic letters. I burst out laughing. He looks like he's about to cry, but suppresses a smile when he looks at me.

"You got Taylor Swift lyrics tattooed," I laugh. 

"I did, apparently." He studies me, worried. "But that means we left the house." 

I stop breathing. What else did we do? 

Right at that moment, I get a text. I pick up my phone. It's from Mike. I also have three missed calls and many missed messages.  Fuck.

Mike

Lol wdym

Hey what did you mean?

Answer me pls

Wdymmmm

Lucy!!!

I freeze. What did I text him?! I scroll up. And that's when I see it. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh no no no no no. I cover my mouth with one hand and drop my phone.

"What's wrong?" James asks, seeming concerned. He catches my phone. "Can I look?" he asks.

I nod, terrified, about to cry.

And that's when he sees it.

I texted Mike "I cheated lol" at 3 AM.

My life is falling apart.

"Oh, damn," he says, almost a whisper as if he can't believe it. 

"He... he's gonna leave me isn't he?" I sob.

"Of course not," he says, kissing my hair. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"No, it's not. Nothing is fine."